tory, like Jock Farquharson.

_XVII---A Song of Other Shores_

"Quebec, North America.

My Worthy Kinsman,

"You have not written me in reply to a previous letter of mine, nor did
I expect you would, but I hope you have not lost all interest in my
fortunes, and I make sure that the great events which have happened
here, in New France, must interest you, when told with some
particularity by me.

"You will be well aware, before this reaches you, that the
_fleur-de-lys_ of his Christian Majesty, King Louis, no longer flies
over the citadel of Quebec, and that in its place there blows the flag
of His Britannic Majesty--whom God bless, I suppose! But of how all
this happened you will only have general intelligence, and none about
my own fortunate part in it.

"Well, it was not mere fortune, because I did exert myself strenuously
to discharge the mission confided to me, and General Wolfe said
privily, before he marched to a glorious victory and a glorious death,
that I had succeeded beyond his expectation. But I should tell you
that I had necessary audiences of him more than once, while I served
with the French in Quebec, and these we managed with perfect secrecy,
thanks to methods which I may not disclose, except that the high esteem
felt by the French for the Black Colonel, and their faith in his
honour, alone made them possible.

"Saying so much of General Wolfe, I wish to set down my own monument to
his evident high parts as a soldier and a man. I found him modest in
demeanour, graceful of manner, reasonable in attitude, altogether a
gallant gentleman. He was simple and to the point, and when he had
finished with you he dispatched you courteously, pleased with him and
with yourself.

"His excellency, the Marquis Montcalm, who also did me the honour of
various conversations, and who likewise fell gloriously, had qualities
not dissimilar. He was a French gentleman with the grand manner,
meaning he carried his air so quietly that you hardly knew its
presence, except by feeling it. I will further say, in token to his
attributes, that he was of a moral stature in whose presence I felt
ashamed of my secret trade, a trade which a man can only follow once in
a life time, and then because he must.

"Perhaps you will scarce believe that several times my tongue was
bubbling to deliver all to his knowledge, and to throw myself on his
mercy. His very trustfulness made that impossible, because in each of
us th